


rest is not defeat

by aquamarine_nebula



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Blowjobs, Fluff, M/M, about albert einstein, alex stop writing compelling characters challenge, apollo ships it i guess, i can't believe that i have now written smut, i wrote 'under the lab table blow jobs' into writing rangers discord and then this happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26119858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquamarine_nebula/pseuds/aquamarine_nebula
Summary: There is at least one way to encourage Einstein to rest.
Relationships: Albert Einstein/Edward Keystone
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	rest is not defeat

**Author's Note:**

> thank writing rangers for coign otherwise i wouldn't have posted this probably

The sun had dipped well below the horizon by the time Albert looked up from the stones. Sixteen finished, and his mind was tingling with pins and needles that were becoming much too familiar now. Overdid it again.    
  
He very carefully didn't think about how much sooner his spells gave out, how much he'd lost to faded memory. At this point it felt like the only thing he could do to help the Harlequins, other than being bait during a battle. He stacked the finished stones to one side. These ones would hopefully last longer than the previous batch.    
  
"Al," from beside him, and he dropped the last stone with a loud clatter. It should have been obvious, Ed was so beloved by Apollo that his skin glowed in the low light, and the warmth of his own personal sun radiated a few feet diameter around him. There was a sudden absence of noise, as if Ed had been talking before he caught Albert's attention.   
  
"Sorry, sorry," Albert said, waving one hand. He pulled another stone closer, although he could feel just how empty his magic was. Whatever was going to happen to this stone, it wasn't what he wanted. "Don’t worry, Ed, you can just go to bed. This stone is hard to work with, the density means the magic takes longer,and I  _ really _ need to concentrate on..." he let himself continue. Hopefully Ed would leave, he was sure he had a potion somewhere that would give him enough strength to complete a couple more, just enough that Ed would be fast asleep when he finally crawled into bed.   
  
Ed touched his hand, muttered a quick prayer that had Albert biting back a laugh, but didn’t let go as the buzzing finally faded from Albert’s mind, and the warmth of a summer day seeped into his bones.

Albert pulled away to stretch his arms above his head. “I can probably do a couple--” 

“No, no,” Ed interrupted. “This doesn’t… you can’t just have this instead of sleep, alright? You’ve done a lot today, Al, and  _ I’m  _ dead tired.”

“I’m super good at working through the night, it’s practically required at universities.”

Ed was an open book, every thought he had displayed in the set of his shoulders and the curve of his eyebrows. Right now he was staring at Albert with an intensity that had him twitching in his seat. Albert was hard to read. That was what he depended on, that no one would see just how much of a ticking time bomb he was since the accident in Newton’s study.  _ I can be useful _ , he thought firmly, steeling himself, squaring his shoulders.

One corner of Ed’s mouth twitched, that infuriating dimple in his left cheek flashing. “I get it, you know? You’re a…” he paused and sighed, switching flawlessly to German. “You're scared to stop working.”

“I can do this. I’m Einstein.”

A small furrow between his eyebrows, and Albert reached up to smooth it away with his thumb. “No need to worry,” he continued, turning back to the stone and muttering the incantation again.

It wasn’t necessarily difficult--he knew how many times he had to repeat it, how deep he had to dig for the magic to flow through his fingers. Having tested a few somatic elements he had settled on twisting the air above the stone with his index and middle fingers; as well as being simple it encouraged the magic to coat all of the stone rather than a fixed point. 

Compared to Ed’s hand, though, it made him feel cold. The pins and needles were back, pricking all over his brain.

Ed pressed a kiss to his shoulder.

He stuttered a moment, his hand clenching into a fist, before resuming, only a little warmth creeping to his cheeks. Ed didn’t react, kissing his shoulder again. “Okay?” he asked.

Albert nodded slowly. “I can only be so useful how I am now.” The admission was whispered as Ed kissed his neck. “And I don’t know if that will last.” 

“You’re a good one, Al. I know I’m not all that bright, and I  _ never _ understand when you talk about your research, but that’s alright because I still like listening to you. And you never make me feel like an idiot when I don’t understand.” There was a strand of sunlight gold hair falling into his eye, and Albert tucked it back into place. “And I know you think you’re only as good as how useful you can be, but that’s not right. You’re as good as how many good things you do, and you do good things all the time. And you’re not a god. You need to rest.”

Albert defied anyone who could remain focussed when a man like Ed was close, and that was before the hand on his thigh and the piercing blue eyes met his own. “Rest,” he repeated. “Your German is really coming along, you know.” Ed flashed a smile at him.

“Your lab coat is on inside-out,” he added, and Albert twisted to check, muttered ‘ _ God _ ’ under his breath before starting to struggle out of it, only stopping when Ed cupped his cheek and drew him closer. “Okay?” he asked again. Albert closed the gap, kissing him with a hunger that he hadn’t realised he’d felt.

They did call it touch-’starved’, didn’t they? So maybe it wasn’t strange that he felt full to bursting when Ed touched him, after so long a fast. Not like with magic, which had always been a little too consuming and wild, ready to swallow him up until nothing was left. Not like with magic which pushed him off course, but centering. Achingly warm. Ed was always warm.

He shivered, and Ed pulled him closer, gasping softly against his mouth when Albert took the opportunity to pull his shirt out of his trousers and trace the muscles underneath. 

Something about when they were together gave Albert that same feeling as a laying on hands did, as if Apollo’s love for Ed was strong enough to affect everyone in his vicinity. Calming, more than anything. “Bed?” he asked.

Albert could feel Ed smiling against his mouth, pulling back. “Don't need it,” he said, dropping to his knees.

The pit of Albert’s stomach was hot at the sight, blue eyes looking at him through pale eyelashes, those perfect cheekbones. He pushed his shirt out of the way, mouthing along his waistband. “Ed, your knees--” he broke off when he felt Ed’s tongue against his skin, his hands flying to Ed’s hair to ground himself. 

He never listened to his body, and it had been weeks since Ed had touched him like that. “Take this off,” he said, pulling his waistband down. Albert obeyed, leaning back in his chair when Ed kissed the inside of his thigh.

“Why here?” Albert asked. Ed pressed against his hand when he ran his fingers through his fringe, pushing it back from his face. “I'm sure the bed is more comfortable.” 

Ed grinned and winked. “Something to remember when you're working.”

He kept his eyes on Albert’s face as he leaned forwards, kissing the head of his cock and smiling against it when Albert’s breath hitched in his throat.

“Like I need more distractions with you here,” he muttered, hooking his legs over Ed’s shoulders to bring him closer. Ed complied with a satisfied hum, taking the head into his mouth and sucking gently as Albert sank down. Apparently slow was what he wanted tonight. Easy to agree, he felt too tired for anything energetic regardless.

He almost forgot to feel for a moment, vaguely recognising the warmth of Ed’s mouth and the tightness of his lips around him, but caught by the play of light across his hair, the flex of his muscles as he moved. Albert touched his cheek. All time was relative. If only he could find a way to extend this moment until it encompassed all time, so all he felt for the rest of his life was Ed’s hair twisted around his fingers, his mouth tight around him, his tongue against his slit. The Harlequins were nothing, his decaying magic nothing. Ed was all that would matter.

Ed pulled off, his cheeks blushed to a dark pink, hair in wild disarray from where Albert had clutched it. “Well, if anyone would find a way it’s you. But I didn’t like the last time I messed with time.”

Albert blinked at him. “Entropy,” he said.

“Uh…” Ed narrowed his eyes, absentmindedly stroking Albert’s calf with one hand. “You told me about this one. The disorder one, right?”

“Everything tends from order to disorder,” Albert recited. “So prove it. Take me apart.”

Ed licked his lips, taking Albert in his mouth again and pulling him closer by his hips, swallowing him with a practised ease that had Albert tightening his thighs around Ed’s head. “ _ God _ , have you been  _ practising _ ?” he gasped out, grabbing one of Ed’s hands and squeezing it tightly.

Ed hummed in response, shook his head the little he could whilst still keeping Albert in his mouth, settling into a rhythm in clear determination with his free hand and mouth. 

He loved this man, with all his bravery and kindness and devotion. What could he ever offer in comparison?

Pulling off again with a quiet sigh, Ed tugged the hand still gripped in Albert’s, who dropped it. “No, no, c’mere,” he said, catching it again.

Albert slowly slipped from the stool, let Ed draw him in until he was straddling his lap. “I love you, you know? So you don’t need to offer anything.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been together. It’s more… intense than I remember.”

“We can stop.”

“No!” Albert exclaimed, his face heating when Ed tried to hold back a smile. “I don’t want to stop.” He cupped Ed’s cheeks, brushed his thumb along the cut of his cheekbones, reached up to kiss his forehead. 

Ed caught his mouth then, licking the seam of his lips until Albert let him deepen the kiss. He shivered when he tasted himself on Ed’s tongue, pulling insistently at his shirt again to push it off his shoulders, shifting his weight so he could clumsily pull at the straps of his trousers as Ed made quick work of his own shirt. “Buttoned wrong,” he mumbled against Albert’s mouth as he threw it to one side.

Skin on skin was the easiest way to feel the warmth of his connection to Apollo and let himself bask in it. It always seemed stronger when they were like this, almost like Apollo approved, like this love was a form of worship as meaningful as prayer.

“Lie back,” Ed continued, running his hands over Albert’s torso, as if  _ anything _ there could compare with his. The floor was hard, chilling his back in contrast to the heat of Ed’s skin. Ed shifted, wincing as he straightened his legs to settle between Albert’s thighs.

“I  _ told _ you you would hurt your knees--” the rest of his breath rushed out as Ed took him into his mouth again, silencing him more effectively than with any other method. Albert closed his eyes to just  _ feel _ , for once. There was stubble scraping against the skin of his thigh, soft hair brushing his stomach, strong hands gripping his hips. He made a movement with his tongue against his frenulum that had any other thought fly out of his head, and only by sheer force of will resisted bucking up into the tight heat of his throat. He was babbling again, praise and declarations that usually stuck in his throat any other time, before pulling Ed’s hair as warning. “ _ Close _ ,” he said, and Ed just smiled around him, sinking down again and humming until Albert was coming.

Ed joined him after a short moment, kissing a path up his body with a gentleness that made Albert’s teeth hurt. It was once he’d reached his mouth again that Albert clutched him tighter, imploring with his hands for him to stay.

“Bed?” he asked.

Albert agreed, and followed Ed, out of the lab, down the hall, and into the small refuge which was theirs and theirs only. “I forgot what I was stressed about,” he said as they climbed into bed and Albert had once again plastered himself against his own personal sun. Even in the almost darkness, his skin was glowing as if he was holding a light within himself, which only brightened when Albert kissed his neck and gently mapped down his chest with careful fingers.

Ed caught his hand, kissed the knuckles and shook his head. “Tomorrow. Rest for now.”

“Okay,” Albert said against his shoulder. “Okay. Rest.”


End file.
